!!!Koalition

Coalition, an agreement between two or more political parties to form 
and maintain a joint government, usually confirmed by a written 
coalition agreement. The coalition agreement comprises the terms the 
parties have agreed upon with regard to the sharing out of federal and 
government offices and joint political objectives.

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In Austria the Social Democrats, the Christian Socialists, and the 
German Nationalists established a coalition government at the 
beginning of the First Republic, in 1918. It comprised all the parties 
represented in parliament ("Konzentrationsregierung") under 
the leadership of Federal Chancellor K.  Renner (of the 
Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei, SDAP), and aimed at tackling 
economic reconstruction with united energies. This was followed in 
1919 by a grand coalition made up of Social Democrats and Christian 
Socialists, which dissolved in 1920. Until the establishment of the 
authoritarian regime of the corporative state in 1934, Austria was 
governed by coalitions of conservative parties, while the Social 
Democrats remained in opposition ( First Republic). In April 1945 the 
3 authorised parties formed a coalition. This coalition 
government, consisting of the Austrian People's Party 
(Oesterreichische Volkspartei, OeVP), the Austrian Socialist Party 
(Sozialistische Partei Oesterreichs, SPOe), and the Austrian Communist 
Party (Kommunistische Partei Oesterreichs, KPOe) was in power until 
1947; in 1947-1966 Austria was governed by a grand coalition, 
followed by a phase of one-party governments (OeVP 1966-1970, SPOe 
1970-1983). An erosion of the large political parties, which has made 
absolute majorities impossible since the 1980s, led first to the 
(small) coalition of SPOe with the Austrian Freedom Party 
(Freiheitliche Partei Oesterreichs, FPOe, 1983-1987); then the SPOe 
and the OeVP again formed a grand coalition, in order to realise 
forthcoming major projects, in particular the integration of Austria 
into the EU (then EC), on as broad a basis as possible. After the 1994 
election, the SPOe-OeVP coalition was renewed.

!Literature
M. Mommsen-Reindl, Die oesterreichische Proporzdemokratie 
und der Fall Habsburg, 1976; P. Gerlich and W. Mueller (eds.), 
Zwischen Koalition und Konkurrenz, 1983; Koalitionsregierungen in 
Oesterreich, 1985; M. Rauchensteiner, Die zwei, 1987; A. Pelinka, Die 
kleine Koalition: SPOe-FPOe 1983-1986, 1993.


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